DRUG-TAKERS IN GRIP OF 'SUPER SPEED'

Amphetamine users looking for a stronger "hit" are turning to a highly
potent substance which is being linked to heart failure, psychotic problems
and the spread of HIV and hepatitis.

Drugs agencies are increasingly concerned by the growing popularity of the
stimulant. Known by the street name of "paste", it is up to 20 times
stronger than other forms of amphetamines. The grey-coloured sludge, which
smells of solvents, is being produced from industrial chemicals in crude
laboratories in kitchens and garden sheds.

Doctors fear that the availability of paste will lead to large numbers of
"recreational" amphetamine users developing addictions with major physical
and psychological withdrawal symptoms. Because the paste is so strong, users
quickly build up a level of resistance which means they must take it on a
staggeringly frequent basis. Heavy amphetamine users told The Independent on
Sunday that they had injected the drug up to 16 times a day. Police drugs
experts say that the health and crime problems resulting from Britain's
growing amphetamine use are being overlooked while attention is focused on
more fashionable drugs such as heroin, cocaine and ecstasy. The lack of
official interest in amphetamine may also be due to it being seen as a
problem most prevalent in provincial towns and cities. The main areas of use
are in the south, south-west, the Midlands and Wales.

Home Office statistics show that the number of police seizures of
amphetamine have increased by 167 per cent in the past five years and that
the amount seized has increased by more than 500 per cent. Generally snorted
or swallowed as a white powder, it is Britain's most widely used illegal
drug after cannabis. The purity of the powder, which is frequently cut with
substances like flour or glucose, has tumbled to as little as 2 per cent in
recent years.

By contrast, paste has a purity of between 40 and 70 per cent. The emergence
of paste - which is also known by those who use it as "base" - is identified
in a paper shortly to be published in the International Journal of Drug
Policy.

The author, consultant psychiatrist Philip Fleming, runs a pioneering clinic
in Portsmouth which prescribes amphetamine to those who have developed a
major dependency on the drug.

He said he was concerned by the emergence of paste. "It is many times more
pure than street amphetamine and, at the end of the day, people are taking
larger and larger quantities," he said.

The Dexamphetamine Prescribing Programme, which is run by Portsmouth
Healthcare Trust's Substance Misuse Service, at the moment has 29 clients,
and has helped to stabilise the lives of nearly 100 addicts. Those who
inject the drug have been weaned away from needles by receiving a daily oral
prescription of amphetamine, which is produced under licence and is free of
the contaminants with which the street drug is cut.

Glen, 30, first tried amphetamine powder, or "speed", as a 15-year-old
looking to bolster his self-confidence. He developed a A31,000- a-week
habit - partly funded by fraud - and by the time he joined the prescribing
programme had 62 injecting points in his body.

He knows nine users who have died in the past two years and is well aware of
the risks of paste. "If you inject it, the rush is so intense that you have
to stop halfway because you won't be able to breathe," he said. He describes
the prescription programme as "a life-saver".

Amphetamine first emerged in Britain in the 1930s as an over-the-counter
medicine to treat nasal congestion. In the Second World War it was given to
troops to keep them awake. It was withdrawn from retail pharmacies in 1968
but is still occasionally used in hospitals as a stimulant. The drug can be
produced with A-level knowledge of chemistry using industrial products which
are legally available in Britain.

The National Criminal Intelligence Service, which co-ordinates the battle
against synthetic drug production, said that 10 illicit laboratories were
raided and closed down in Britain every year.

Peter Miles of the NCIS drugs desk said: "Amphetamine paste is an incredibly
powerful stimulant. Addiction will probably come quicker; they will have to
commit more crime and there could be more violence because it is a very,
very hyper drug."